Interview and IEP

Case Study:

Brian is a 9-year-old student in fourth grade.  Brian has mild cerebral palsy. He is able to walk, but has an awkward gait.  His limbs are weak on the right side of his body and he experiences some uncontrollable movements. Brian also has a seizure disorder that is controlled with medication. He is sensitive to heat and must drink water frequently to stay hydrated. Fatigue sometimes affects his academic performance. 

Brian is reading at a second grade level. Brian does well with decoding skills but struggles with comprehension.  He has a hard time making connections and inferring information. He does better with information that is more literal.  Brian has difficulty writing due to weakness and uncontrollable movements. He receives speech and language therapy to work on his articulation skills, receptive language skills, and expressive language skills. His speech is slightly slurred, which sometimes affects the use of the speech to text software he uses for writing.

Brian uses a tablet with a touch screen for most of his writing assignments. He also uses a computer to type longer assignments. The teacher also provides notes and allows extra time for assignments.

Brian can formulate sentences, and compose simple paragraphs.  He struggles with organizing his thoughts and writing longer essays. He does better with expository essays because he can address facts that are more literal. Graphic organizers, prewriting activities, and outlines provide structure so he is more successful in writing longer passages and essays.

Math is at the third grade level. Brian can add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers.  He struggles with decimal notation, but does benefit from the use of a calculator for multi-digit multiplication and division. Brian struggles with fraction concepts as well. He cannot always decide what operation to choose when solving word problems and requires some assistance in understanding directions and reading the word problems. 

He is impulsive at times and rushes through his assignments.  He does not like to show his work in math and has a difficult time explaining the steps he needs to use to solve problems.

Brian is friendly and outgoing.  However, he does not always read social cues correctly.  He has a hard time appropriately entering a group and will frequently interrupt others in conversation.  Because of his physical disability, he has trouble playing team sports and complains that he feels left out when he is the last person chosen for a team during P.E. class. During recess, Brian is sometimes seen wandering the perimeter of the playground instead of playing and interacting with peers.